


Ceaseless Confusion

by alohaflower



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Fluff, Gen, Parental Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Pokemon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28959663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alohaflower/pseuds/alohaflower
Summary: Aizawa runs into a villain that sends him careening into an odd new world. What's a 'Pokemon'? What's that strange yellow mouse over there? Who are these children and why do they want a gym battle?Aizawa, trapped in a strange catlike form, must try to find a way home, all while making sure these unaccompanied minors don't die along the way. Who let a couple of ten-year-olds wander around alone, anyway?
Comments: 87
Kudos: 227





	1. An unexpected arrival

He could have blamed the pitch-black of the moonless night, which made it difficult to see. He could have blamed the sharp wind, which stung his eyes and made it difficult to activate his quirk. He could have blamed it on the fact that he hadn’t expected someone to actually notice him, considering so few people see him on the rooftops. 

But, truthfully, it was because he was  _ tired.  _ He’d run detention for some of Vlad’s wayward students, helped a group of underground heroes with a raid, and went to a meeting with Nedzu, who went on and on about off-brand philosophical concepts. Then, because he’d expelled his class this year (and enrolled them either in General Studies or more suitable hero schools for their talents,) he had to deal with an exceptional amount of paperwork. 

Well, soon enough, it’d added up to a 15-hour workday, on a day he’d barely gotten any sleep the night before. 

Aizawa briefly considered going straight home, but he decided he couldn’t. Back when he first started his teaching, he promised himself that he wouldn’t let a second job affect his heroics. While that was a long time ago, he still inwardly frowned upon skipping patrols just because he felt burnt out. 

Aizawa knew that decision was irrational, based on feelings of guilt. If he were being truly rational, he wouldn’t have gone out to fight crooks with bleary eyes and slow reflexes. 

Later, when a villain turned their quirk on him, a bright glow in the dark night, he activated his Erasure just _seconds_ too late because his reflexes were _seconds_ too slow and he _knew_ it was because he was _just so tired…_

He knew it was his own fault. He hoped his students would forgive him, if this quirk was something lethal. 

_“Let’s see how you enjoy spending a year somewhere else, hero!”_ The villain’s voice was distant, and his howling laughter sounded tinny in Aizawa’s ears. Shouta felt his legs weaken. He stumbled and fell, dark spots in his vision. A searing pain in his back, and everything went black.

* * *

“Oh wow! It’s Petalburg City!” 

It sounded like a child’s voice. Aizawa peeled his eyes open, still feeling horribly disoriented. He was in… a forest? The sun was high and bright in the sky. Daytime already? Had he slept that long? 

“Pikachu, our first battle in the Hoenn region is coming up!” 

“Hey Ash, wait up, _please!”_

Two children. They didn’t sound distressed, but he should check on him. And find out where he was. Aizawa tried to stagger to his feet, but he slipped and fell. Something felt _wrong_ about his body. He couldn’t move his arms and legs right. He tried to yell, “Hey!”, to get someone’s attention, but the sound he made was a loud yowling that he could scarcely believe came from his own throat.

“What was that?” 

“I don’t know, Ash. Maybe a wild Pokemon?” 

“Pika!” 

“Oh, Pikachu, you know where it came from?” 

There was a rustling of bushes and through them bounded a strange yellow creature. It was bright yellow with brown stripes, a zig-zag tail and little red circles on its cheeks. Aizawa did a double take. He was used to seeing some pretty strange quirks, but this was _obviously_ not a human. A quirk manifestation? A quirked animal? 

He tried to get up again. It was easier to do when he didn’t think about it, when he didn’t think about how strange his limbs felt. Moving was difficult but by relying on muscle memory, he managed to get himself on his feet. He wobbled. 

The yellow creature tilted its head curiously at him. “Pika?” 

“Mrrr.” His attempt to speak created an embarrassing sort of rumbling meow. There was more rustling, the sound of people traipsing through the underbrush. “Pikachu, did you find him? Oh, look!” 

Aizawa looked up at him and relaxed. It was definitely the human child he heard earlier, with a blue shirt and a red baseball cap. “Purrrl,” Aizawa said. He winced. That wasn’t what he meant to say, but at least it wasn’t a meow. Another person made their way through the trees, a girl with a red bandana. “It’s a Pokemon!” the boy told her excitedly. 

_Pokemon?_ Aizawa thought, confused. Whatever. Obviously something was up with his speech, so he was probably concussed. Maybe he could get these kids to get him some medical attention. He took a few steps towards them but he fell over, his body still not obeying them. He struggled to get up again, to no avail. 

“Oh!” the boy said, looking at him closer. “Do you think it’s hurt?” 

“I think it’s sick!” the girl said, looking worried. “I don’t see any injuries but it looks like it’s having a hard time moving.” 

The boy’s face morphed into one of determination. “Then let’s get it to the Pokemon center!”

 _Pokemon center? Is that a medical facility? Are they calling me an ‘it’? I have… so many questions…_ “Purrr,” Aizawa protested when the boy started picking him up. 

“Don’t worry! Soon you’ll be good as new!” the boy promised. As the boy lifted him, Aizawa felt a wave of nausea, and he felt himself losing consciousness again. 

* * *

He woke up in a room with bright lights, white walls and a sterile smell. _A hospital._ That boded well for Aizawa. It meant someone had given him medical care, whatever the quirk was that hit him. He was probably going to be okay. He tried to get up, but he was having problems dealing with his limbs again. They weren’t the length he expected and his skin felt… strange. 

With a little practice, Aizawa finally managed to get to his feet and walk laps around the room. _Finally. I can walk._ His muscles were a little sore, but he would manage. He trotted over to the door of the room and his eyes caught on a mirror. At his reflection, his eyes widened. 

Looking back at him in the mirror was a cat. It was a small purple cat, with cream-colored patches, strange pinkish fur near its eyes, and a hooked tail. The cat stood on two legs in the mirror. 

Experimentally, he opened his mouth. The cat in the mirror opened its mouth, showing two sharp fangs. In shock, he made a horrible screeching noise that really _did_ sound like a dying cat. Aizawa took a deep breath. _The quirk. Of course. This must be its effect. Transformation quirks that affect other people are very rare and usually don’t last long… it will likely wear off on its own very soon. And if it doesn’t, there are many different people who have quirks that are able to reverse this type of thing…_

After going through that line of thought, he felt much calmer. So that’s why he’d been feeling so out-of-it, why he couldn’t speak, why the kids had been calling him an it. They’d probably thought he was just some weird-looking injured cat. He huffed in amusement. At least it wasn’t a traumatic brain injury. Glancing in the mirror again, he wagged the purple hooked tail, watching the tail in the mirror follow its movements. Now that he was focused on it, he could feel the extra limb. 

He walked around a little more. He could walk on two legs, oddly enough for a cat, but once he got used to it a little, he was faster running around on four. He glanced down at his paws, the first two of which were purple and the second two of which were cream-colored. _What odd patching… purple fur? And I can stand on two legs? Can I even be called a proper cat?_

The door to his right opened to reveal a woman in a nurse’s uniform with bright pink hair. Aizawa startled at the creek, his ears flattening instinctively. “Don’t be afraid,” the nurse said soothingly. “I’m here to heal you, got it? You’re looking much better.”

So this was the nurse in charge of his case. Aizawa blinked at her and sat down. 

“Ah, good. May I look you over? Don’t bite me, now.” 

Aizawa laid down on the floor in implicit acceptance. The nurse smiled. She poked and prodded at him a little more, with some instruments he recognized and others not. At the end of it, she hooked her stethoscope around her neck and said, “I give you a clean bill of health.”

 _Except for being the cat thing, I suppose._ Aizawa got up and walked (the more he did it the easier it was) out the door, glancing around. The ‘hospital’ was rather small, probably just a local clinic. He walked into the lobby, noticing the boy and girl from earlier sitting in waiting room chairs. When the boy saw him, his eyes lit up. “You’re okay!” He rushed over to Aizawa.

“He looks healthy! He should be fine from now on,” the nurse assured. 

“Thanks, Nurse Joy!” the boy said. _Nurse Joy, then._

“Ash, what kind of Pokemon is he?” the girl asked. _So the boy’s name is Ash…_

“I’ll get out my Pokedex, May.” _And the girl’s name is May._

The infernal yellow creature was still sitting on the boy’s shoulder. He had no idea what that was. Maybe another victim of the villain’s quirk? Ash fumbled and got out a red-colored device, one that looked almost like a cell phone, and pointed it at him. 

_“Purrloin, the Devious Pokemon. Purrloin fools people into letting their guard down so it can steal their possessions. When angered, it uses its claws to fight back,”_ the strange device said.

 _The hell?_ “A Purrloin? Aw yeah! That’s so cool!” Ash proclaimed, crouching down. 

“Ash, what if it steals from you?” May began, but Ash had already started petting Aizawa. _This kid looks like he's ten, of course I’m not going to steal from him…_ Aizawa butted the kid’s hand with his head in a friendly cat way. He was still really confused, but at least the kid was excited about something. 

“Look, he likes me!” Ash said, grinning. He turned back to Aizawa. “We’re going to go to the gym! Do you wanna come with us?!” 

Aizawa glanced at the nurse, who had already started doing something else. Was he just allowed to leave? Were they going to contact his emergency contact (Yamada Hizashi, Present Mic) or were they going to just set him loose? Did they even know who he was? 

Probably not. They’d shown no indication that they had his ID or knew he worked for UA. They also showed surprisingly little concern over the fact he was under a quirk. Maybe it wore off really fast and that’s why they weren’t concerned. Regardless, the best course of action was probably to look around town and try to find a way to contact Nedzu, or at least just hang around until the quirk wore off. 

Aizawa nodded at Ash, who cheered in response. “All right!” 

“It is really cute,” May said, consideringly. 

The three of them started walking in the direction of the gym. All the while, Ash and May chattered about ‘Purrloin’. Was that what they were calling him? ‘Purloin’ as in ‘to steal’? Why did everyone think he was a thief? Meanwhile, the little yellow creature was trying to interact with him somehow. It had bounded down from Ash’s shoulder and ran alongside him. “Pika pika!” It said. 

“Purrr?” Aizawa said experimentally. 

“Pika-chu!” the creature said.

Suddenly, the yellow thing bounced back on Ash’s shoulder as they arrived at a large building with a wooden ceiling. “You ready Pikachu? Let’s give it our best shot!” Ash said. _So the yellow thing is ‘Pikachu’? And it can only say its name?_

“Hello? I’m Ash, I’m from Pallet Town! I’d like a battle!” Ash declared. He paused a moment. “Uh, is anybody here?” 

“Could you please keep it down? I’m right in the middle of watching a video of the Silver Conference.” The kid that stepped forward was younger than Ash, dressed in green, with glasses. Aizawa would put his age around 7. 

“Oh, I’m sorry kid,” Ash said sheepishly. Then, the green kid got exceedingly excited, shouting about how Ash had ‘competed in the Silver League Conference’ but ‘lost in the second round.’ Ash seemed annoyed at the mention of losing. Meanwhile, Aizawa had never felt more lost in the conversation. What was the Silver League? What was he competing in? What was a ‘Charizard’ and a ‘Blaziken’? 

“That’s it, I don’t want to talk about this any more!” Ash loudly exclaimed. “Get the gym leader, that’s who I came to see!” 

The green kid puffed out his chest. “That’s me!” 

Ash was skeptical, so the green kid challenged him to some kind of battle. Then, May poked her head through the widow. “Hi Max, what’s going on here?” she said. 

“Uh, hi there sis.” 

“Your sister?!”

_So this kid is Max and he’s May’s younger brother. Interesting._

A few minutes later, everyone was having proper introductions. May introduced her parents, Norman and Caroline, explaining that Max was her little brother. 

“My dad is the real leader of the Petalburg Gym!” Max said. 

Ash seemed like he was completely in-the-dark about the fact that May was related to the people who ran the Petalburg Gym, but the parents were thankful that Ash walked her home, or something. “Now who’s that little guy right there?” Caroline said, pointing to Aizawa, who was sitting on the ground near Ash. 

“That’s Purrloin! We ran into him on the way to Petalburg City! He was sick, so we brought him to the Pokemon center!” 

“Oh, is he part of your team?” Caroline asked.

Ash looked a little bummed out. “No…” Wanting to cheer him up, Aizawa nudged Ash’s leg. He almost meowed in complaint when Ash started scratching behind his ears, but it felt nice enough that he didn’t bother. 

“He seems fond of you,” Norman noted. “But be careful, Purrloin can be difficult to handle even for experienced trainers,” he cautioned. 

“Don’t worry!” Ash said. “Purrloin seems really nice.” 

_What do they mean by trainer?_

Then, her two parents started asking May about what ‘Pokemon’ she got from the professor. She brought out a strange red-and-white ball and clicked the button in the center. “Come on out… Torchic!” 

There was a brief glow and out of it popped a little orange bird. “Torchic!” the orange bird tweeted. 

_Alright, what the hell._

Aizawa could ignore the getting-turned-into-a-cat thing. He could ignore the constant talk of battles and ‘Pokemon’ and ‘Pokedexes’ and just call it regional dialect. He could even ignore the yellow rodent (Pikachu??) that was sitting on Ash’s lap, call it a quirked animal or something.

He could NOT ignore the way that orange bird had just popped out of that ball and how everyone was treating it like it was normal. 

Something was horribly wrong with this situation, and he had to find out what. 


	2. Team Rocket encounter

The orange bird had just popped out of a red-and-white ball that was WAY too small to fit it. Aizawa had no idea how and everyone was acting like everything was completely fine. 

In fact, Max was acting completely unimpressed? “What, why’d you pick that? If it were me, I definitely would have picked a Treecko,” Max complained. The Torchic leapt at Max, pecking him in the back in retaliation. 

“Torchic, stop that!” May said. After a few seconds, Aizawa thought to himself, _Okay, enough. I’m getting to the bottom of this._ He growled at the Torchic threateningly, who immediately stopped pecking Max, and ran to hide behind May. Then, he flopped over in a catlike manner and tried to figure out what was going on. 

“Wow, I like this Pokemon the best!” Max proclaimed, giving him a pat on the head.

Aizawa gave an annoyed grumble, but otherwise didn’t react. 

“I think Torchic’s a fine Pokemon to start out with,” Norman said. 

_So ‘Torchic’ and ‘Pikachu’ and apparently me, are all ‘Pokemon’. Are Pokemon some kind of animal? Where the hell even am I? Is the reason everyone acted like I was completely normal because having weird animal creatures IS completely normal?_

What had that villain said? _“_ **_Hope you enjoy spending a year somewhere else, hero._ ** _”?_ If that was it, the villain probably sent him to some remote location. 

_I can say for certain that wherever I am it’s nothing like Musutafu… I should look for more evidence of these ‘creatures’, whatever they are. Maybe where I am there’s a higher incidence of quirked animals. But if so, wouldn’t Nedzu be all over that? Maybe their commonality here isn’t generally known to the world._

Aizawa ambled after the group when they went to eat dinner. Caroline, May’s mother, placed a handful of berries in a bowl and set them out for him. Aizawa thought briefly about whether or not cats should be eating berries, but they looked fairly appetizing, so he ate them. They were delicious and surprisingly filling for berries. 

While they were eating, Norman and Ash chatted amiably about how Ash had been travelling, Ash’s quest to get ‘gym badges’ and apparently by ‘battling’ with Norman he would get one of these ‘gym badges.’ Aizawa still had no idea what these battles consisted of, he hoped Norman wasn’t going to try to throw down with this ten-year-old. Then, Max said it was a ‘three-on-three elimination round’ which disappointed Ash, because he only had one Pokemon. “Even if Purrloin joined my team,” Ash complained. “I still wouldn’t have enough for the gym.” 

_Okay so there ARE more Pokemon here. And the Pokemon are the ones competing in the ‘gym battles’ and in this ‘gym battle’ you need at least three to compete. This must mean Pokemon are pretty common. Where even am I?_

“I want to use Pokemon that I capture here, in the Hoenn Region,” Ash siad. 

_The Hoenn region? Capture them? Well I suppose the Pokemon I’ve seen so far are all sort of like animals…_

Norman, pitying Ash, offered to fight him in an unofficial gym battle. Ash took him up on the offer excitedly and everyone went out to a large field with a circle in the middle that looked like some kind of sports ring. Aizawa followed them, confused. 

“Alright Pikachu, let’s go!” 

“Pikachu!”

“Okay Vigoroth, I choose you!” Norman brought out one of those red-and-white balls again and tossed it, revealing a GIGANTIC SLOTH CREATURE? It was white with long claws and a long tuft of reddish hair on its head. Aizawa stared at it in amazement. 

_“Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokemon. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk…”_

The reddish device that Ash had pointed at him was speaking again. Aizawa… could not handle this. He crept underneath a wooden bench on the side of the room and brought his paws to his head. He could feel his claws digging into his skin. 

_What is this… what is this place… these Pokemon and those red-and-white balls and that stupid red device… the ‘Hoenn Region’?... not in Japan anymore but they speak my language… I don’t understand…_

Aizawa poked his head out to see Pikachu and Vigoroth in a vicious fight, with Ash and Norman cheering them on and ordering them how to attack. _Is this the battle they were talking about? Do they pit these ‘Pokemon’ against each other for sport?_

“Hey Purrloin,” said Max, ducking his head under the bench. “What are you scared of?” 

“ _Purrrrrrr._ ” It came out as a whine. 

Max glanced over at Pikachu and Vigoroth’s fight. “Oh! You must not like battling! That’s okay, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Max reached under the bench and pulled Aizawa into his arms. Aizawa closed his eyes. This couldn’t be real. 

Aizawa heard a crash and glanced over towards the battle. It looked like Pikachu had gotten thrown out of the arena and into the wall and had officially lost. Ash was checking on Pikachu, who looked fine for the most part. Norman and Ash were chatting again, about how ‘strong Pokemon were in the Hoenn Region’ when there was another massive crash and part of the wall collapsed.

“Prepare for trouble from the hole in the wall!”

“Make it double, you’re in for a brawl!” 

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all people within our nation!” 

_Now what??_ Aizawa didn’t think he could take many more random challenges to his worldview today. He hoped it was nothing. _Who am I kidding?_ he grumbled internally. Someone had just blasted a hole in the wall. 

“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Jessie!” “James!” 

“Team Rocket makes a mad dash at the speed of light!” 

Aizawa could see into the hole now that the dust had cleared and it looked like two figures, one with pink hair and the other with purple. The purple figure seemed to have set up some kind of starry background to accompany the previous statements. _Are these… villains? They’re so dramatic…_

“Surrender to these great effects or prepare to fight!” the purple one yelled.

“Meowth, that’s right!” 

“Wabuffet!” 

More Pokemon? Aizawa darted to his feet. One was a strange blue thing with a zigzag mouth, he ignored that one for now. One was catlike, cream-colored with brown paws and a shiny medallion stuck to his forehead. He focused on that one, because _that one spoke._ None of the other Pokemon he encountered could speak! Could he speak too?

“It’s Team Rocket!” May shouted. 

When Caroline thanked them for ‘looking after her daughter’, May swiftly corrected her and explained that they were the bad guys. Team Rocket bragged that they weren’t your average criminals, because they robbed you with style. The Meowth _spoke_ again, too! Could Aizawa somehow communicate with it? 

“We’re here for your Pokemon!” the pink one yelled. “Go, Arbok!” 

“Go, Wheezing!”

Two more Pokemon appeared, a weird purple lump one (‘Wheezing’) and a gigantic terrifying purple snake (‘Arbok’). 

“Wheezing, use Smokescreen!” Wheezing let out clouds of gas and soon, the whole room was shrouded in smog. Aizawa heard the sounds of battle through the smog. 

“Arbok, use headbutt!”

“Pikachu, no!” Ash yelled as Pikachu cried out in pain. 

Aizawa had no idea what was going on, but at this point, ‘Team Rocket’ had publicly admitted themselves to be villains. He decided he would focus on protecting the children. He nudged Max in the direction of the exit. “Purr!” _Run, go!_

“Purrloin, can you help?” Max asked. 

“Purr!” Aizawa responded, frustrated. The kid didn’t know what he was saying. 

“You should get in there with your Pokemon too, May!” Max said. While May and Max brought out Torchic and started arguing, Aizawa saw a figure moving in the fog. He growled at it, aggressively. 

“Purrloin is already using Growl!” Max said.

“Don’t rush me!” May said. “Now, attacks…” 

Aizawa saw something rush at him in the fog. He narrowly dodged, throwing himself to the side. By the way Torchic yelled, he guessed that it wasn’t so lucky. 

“Now we’ll be taking Pikachu and Vigoroth with us!” 

“That’s what you think. Pikachu, thunderbolt ‘em!” 

There was a massive discharge of electricity. Aizawa quickly ducked, sheltering under the bench. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Max cry out. The fog began to clear. 

“Oh no, Max you didn’t get hit, did you?” “Pika-chu?” 

Max was on the ground, covered in soot and trembling slightly. “Well it’s one thing to learn about Pikachu’s thunderbolt on TV and a whole nother one to…” 

Aizawa ran over to Max, nudging him gently. “Purrr?” 

Max sat up. “I’m fine, Purrloin.” 

Aizawa was still worried. Electricity could cause problems with the heart and could have severe effects. Aizawa checked his skin for visible burns and damage. There was none, so he leapt on Max’s shoulder to try to get a pulse from his neck. “Oh wow, you’re really worried, aren’t you?” said Max, scratching behind Aizawa’s ear. Aizawa pressed his nose against Max’s neck. Pulse was normal. Aizawa sighed in relief. Maybe he was uninjured after all. 

“My Vigoroth is still here, safe and sound.” “Yeah, so’s my Pikachu.” “Purrloin is here just fine!” Max added. 

“My Torchic’s gone!” May exclaimed. 

Aizawa growled. So where he was, Pokemon were pets sometimes used in dogfights, and Team Rocket was stealing them. _Pet-thieves._

Team Rocket was flying away in their air balloon, but Ash vowed that he would help get May’s Torchic back. The group quickly split into two teams, the kids and the parents, to look for Torchic. The kids spent a few minutes squabbling, by which time the parents had figured out where Team Rocket’s balloon was. 

_That was fast… did they really dock so close?_ Aizawa thought. 

“There,” Norman said. 

“Yup, that’s it.” 

The hot air balloon was in clear view. If Aizawa squinted, he could see Torchic in a cage, looking glum. “My poor little Torchic!”

“Torchic!” Both Max and May made a move to run towards the air balloon, but Aizawa sunk his teeth into Max’s pant leg and dragged him back into the bushes. Like hell he was going to let the seven-year-old run at hardened thieves. 

It was the right decision, considering May (who he hadn’t had the time or strength to pull back) immediately walked into a pit trap. 

“I’m coming!” the dad yelled. “Me too!” the mom added. 

“Wait, there might be…” Both of them fell in yet another pit trap. “...Another trap,” Ash said, facepalming. Team Rocket started celebrating, but Ash sent his Pikachu to fight off Arbok while he pulled May out of the pit trap. Max, meanwhile, had started sneaking over towards the hot air balloon to let Torchic free. _That stupid, reckless…_

Aizawa decided he would help, even if he was just a tiny kitten. He leapt in front of May and Ash, snarling. “Purrloin, use Scratch!” Ash called. 

_Scratch? Uh, okay, I can do that._ Aizawa threw himself toward the Arbok and swiped his claws over its nose. It cried in pain and anger, slapping him from the air with its tail into the ground. “Purr,” Aizawa said instead of “Ow.” He got back up again, but Vigoroth had already slammed into both Arbok and Wheezing. Pikachu sent an electric bolt towards them, sending them flying into the air. _Those criminals dealt with, I guess._

Aizawa turned towards May, who was holding her Torchic. Max must have freed it at some point. Torchic looked very thankful and affectionate and May looked very happy to have it back. Aizawa trotted towards Max again. “You were amazing, Purrloin!” said Max, patting him on the head. 

They spent the rest of the day at May’s parents house, but at the end of the day, apparently it was time to leave. Leave where, Aizawa wasn’t sure, but it sounded like for a long time. Was Norman coming with? 

“You don’t know anything about Pokemon. I should go too!” Max said, to May and Ash’s surprise. 

Norman nodded. “Your brother does know a lot about Pokemon. He just might be a big help to you.” 

_What?_ Aizawa looked at Norman in disbelief. Was he seriously letting two 10-year-olds and one seven-year-old travel _alone?_ So close after a villain attack? What an irresponsible parent! Aizawa growled at him. I mean sure, they had Pikachu, who was fairly powerful, but… who was going to make sure the kids took care of themselves? And besides Pikachu, what self-defense did they have? Torchic wasn’t powerful whatsoever. 

Aizawa leapt into Max’s arms, curling into a ball. “Purrloin wants to come with us too!” Ash yelled. _Just until I make sure you brats aren’t going to die because of Norman’s poor planning._

_… And until I figure out how I get home. At this point it’s obvious that I’m nowhere near anywhere I recognize, if I’m even in the same ‘world’ at all. The villain said for a year, but is that really true? I need to find a way home as soon as possible._


	3. the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a quick update

There's a chance I'll go somewhere with this, based on reception, but there's also a chance I'll drop it. As such, if anyone wants, they can take the concept from here and do what they want with it! Try to use the "inspired" function so I can read it too! 

Have a nice day! :)

My HC for what might happen:

\- Ash is stunned by the fact he found yet ANOTHER Pokemon who refuses to go in a Pokeball. 

\- Aizawa trying to parent the three of them while still in cat form. He'll eventually evolve into a Liepard. 

\- Ash and May arguing over who gets to keep 'Purrloin'. Aizawa just ends up sticking with Max and sits on his shoulders for most of the journey. 

\- Aizawa being irritated with Pokemon battles, but he'll fight really hard against Team Rocket or Team Magma or whatever other villains are threatening these kids. 

\- Aizawa trying to help train all these Pokemon. ("Aipom, no, that's not the best way to use your quir- I mean, your tail")

\- Aizawa accidentally becoming healthier because of all the rest and affection and positive attention

\- Everyone being like "Liepard... the cruel pokemon" and Ash & friends being like "nawww, Liepard is so chill"

\- Aizawa does get back to Boku No Hero Academia in human form. I like to imagine he kept some of his Pokemon moves. He wakes up, he's been gone for 1 year in Pokemon time but 1 day Boku no Hero time. Everyone thinks Aizawa finally took a day off, but suddenly he's like SHADOW CLAW and that's how it is now

I also think there are a lot of other Pokemon crossover ideas that could be utilized pretty well with Boku No Hero Academia. Someone getting dropped in the Pokemon world, a Pokemon coming to our world, Midoriya's quirk being the ability to summon Pokemon or something (I think I saw a fic like that once and it was good, "Izuku Used Struggle" or something like that. I think it might be interesting to do that with a set team of 6, too.) Also there's a fic that is about Midoriya's "Fearow", if you see that it's really good. 


	4. learning new moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've decided I'm going to turn this into a series of one-shots of Aizawa in the Pokemon world! That way, I don't have to painstakingly describe Aizawa going about in all the filler episodes, and we can focus on the important pieces. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Max craned his neck to look at Ash’s pokedex. “It says Purrloin knows Scratch, Growl, Sand Attack and Fake Tears. And its ability is ‘Limber.’” 

“That means it can’t be paralyzed, right? And those are great moves!” Ash said cheerfully, but Max shook his head. “Yeah they’re fine, whatever, but what if Purrloin runs into a Ghost Type! It’s not going to be able to hit it!” 

Ash deflated slightly. 

Aizawa glanced between the two of them. He had recently figured out that the ‘Moves’ that trainers so often talked about were the strange abilities that Pokemon had. They seemed to be capable of having four at once. 

“Max is right that Purrloin should learn more moves,” Brock agreed. “As a Dark Type, you should try to teach it some more powerful dark type moves.” 

“Maybe a stronger normal type move too,” Max muttered to himself. “Like Swift.” Then Max stood up slightly straighter. “If I’m gonna raise a Pokemon, even unofficially, then I’m gonna do it right! Let’s go train, Purrloin!” 

“Prrloi,” Aizawa responded. 

“Try practicing some of the moves it knows already!” May called, as Max scooped Aizawa from the ground and started sprinting towards the training field. 

“Okay, okay!” Max said, bouncing slightly. “Use Sand Attack!” 

Aizawa blinked.  _ What the hell is Sand Attack? _

“C’mon, you’re supposed to know it!” Max pouted. 

“Mrrow,” Aizawa said, by way of apology. 

“You hit the sand in the opponent’s eyes?” Max said, weakly. 

_ Oh, I can do that.  _ Aizawa used his paw to scoop up a bunch of sand and throw it where an opponent’s eyes would be. For some reason (probably the reason that the pokedex listed him as ‘knowing the move’) Aizawa found it easy, and could do the motion smoothly in this body. (He wasn’t above throwing sand in people’s eyes when he was a hero, but he’d never done it as a cat.) 

“Well done Purrloin!” Max cheered. “Now use Fake Tears!” 

Aizawa stared back up at him blankly. 

“You don’t know that one either?” Max tilted his head. “You pretend to cry and then the enemy feels bad for attacking you.” 

Aizawa was skeptical ( _ ‘the enemy feels bad’ _ was not exactly the strategy he was looking for) but when he tried, he felt tears well up in his eyes, even though he wasn’t sad at all. Soon enough, there were thick tears rolling down his face. 

“Aww! Purrloin, I know those are fake, but now I feel bad!” said Max. 

Aizawa blinked and immediately stopped crying.  _ At least I won’t get dry eyes in this universe,  _ he noted.  _ One of my special abilities is crying on command.  _

It didn’t escape Aizawa’s notice that none of his moves were very strong. He could scratch at someone, throw sand at them, growl at them, and pretend to cry. Nothing standout in a world where most animals could breathe fire or shoot electricity. 

All the same, Aizawa knew that with enough training, even little pokemon could ‘evolve’ and get significantly stronger, though he wasn’t sure if Purrloins evolved or not. Either way, with a little training, he might be able to attain more powerful moves. At least powerful enough to serve as decent self-defense. 

“Alright, alright! I know what you should try and learn!” Max said excitedly. “Shadow Ball! It’s really powerful. Essentially, you make a ball of shadowy energy and throw it at your opponents!”

That  _ did  _ sound powerful. “Purrl,” Aizawa said, by way of agreement. 

“Okay so you gather up shadow energy into a ball,” Max said, “then you release it!” 

Shadow energy? Aizawa tried to search himself for whatever ‘shadow energy’ Max was talking about, but he couldn’t find it. He put a paw to his chin, trying to think. He’d felt an odd rush of  _ something  _ when he’d used Fake Tears earlier. Was that the shadow energy?

He grasped at it, trying to clumsily form it into a ball, but it simply dissipated in his grip. It didn’t seem to want to take a round shape, too many sharp edges. 

“I saw a little energy there,” Max said, thoughtfully. “But it looked a bit like the wrong color. It wasn’t purple enough.”

Aizawa was not sure how to change the color. There were a few more frustrating attempts, in which he tried to form the energy into a ball or make it more purple, but it always dissipated harmlessly with no effects, and stayed the ‘wrong color’ according to Max. 

“Max,” Brock said. “I don’t think you’re going about this the right way.”

“Brock, you followed me!” Max said. 

Brock nodded. “I wanted to see you and Purrloin train, so I could help. You’re trying to teach Purrloin Shadow Ball, right?”

“Right!” Max said. “But it’s not working.”

“I think you’ve started with a move that’s too advanced,” Brock said, frowning slightly. “Shadow Ball is a very difficult move, and Purrloin isn’t a natural Ghost Type. You saw the ‘energy’ wasn’t right, didn’t you?”

“It was black instead of purple,” Max said, frowning.

“That’s because Purrloin was trying to use a Dark Type move, not a Ghost Type move.” 

“C’mon Purrloin! Why didn’t you make it Ghost Type?” whined Max.

“Purrloin doesn’t know any Ghost Type moves,” Brock said. “Don’t blame it, it probably doesn’t know how to use Ghost Type moves yet. It was doing its best.” 

“Oh,” Max said, looking down. “Sorry Purrloin.” 

“Purrloin will be able to use Ghost Type moves eventually, but Shadow Ball is very difficult,” Brock explained gently. “It may be just too young to learn it right now.” 

“Then what do I do?” said Max, despairing. “How will Purrloin and I get stronger?”

“You have to start it with something that will be easier for it,” Brock advised. “Snarl is a lot like Growl, so it will probably learn that more easily. Same thing with Fury Swipes, which is like Scratch.”

“How am I supposed to teach it moves that aren’t anything like it already knows?” Max asked. 

“It will be able to do that with more battle experience,” said Brock. “And once you teach it more Dark Types moves, like Snarl, it will be better at learning other dark type moves, like Thief, Night Slash, or Sucker Punch. And if you wanted to teach it Ghost Type moves, you might want to let it observe some Ghost Types in action or battle some Ghost Types to get some experience.” 

_ Brock’s pretty wise for a kid,  _ Aizawa thought to himself, trying to take note of the different moves he could learn. He didn’t recognize most of them, but some of them, like ‘Night Slash’, sounded like they had some power behind them. 

… but it also sounded like he was a ways away from learning them.

“That’s going to take forever,” Max complained. 

“Be patient with Purrloin,” Brock advised. “It’s very small, for a Purrloin. Professor Oak says it might just be a baby. You have all the time in the world to teach it new moves.”

_ I’m literally an adult,  _ Aizawa protested internally, but there was nothing he could say. He growled in an offended way at Brock’s statement. 

Max started looking a little guilty. He crouched down and gave Aizawa a hug. “I’m sorry for rushing you, Purrloin,” he said, stroking his fur. 

Aizawa squirmed out of Max’s grip and made punching motions in the air.  _ I’m not being rushed, I need to get stronger.  _

Brock smiled. “It looks like Purrloin is still excited to train.” 

“So we should try and learn Fury Swipes and Snarl?” Max asked. 

“That would probably be best,” Brock said. 

Learning a new move was difficult, even if it was similar to ones that Aizawa had known before. Despite that, after a few days of difficult training, he was able to smoothly slash opponents several times over in a move Max had been calling ‘Fury Swipes’. Aizawa still internally frowned when he thought of his own moveset (Fury Swipes, Growl, Sand Attack, and Fake Tears was still mostly just growling and crying and throwing sand) but was assuaged by the fact that ‘Snarl’ (which he was trying to learn) apparently did actual damage to the opponent somehow. Something with the dark type energy. 

He couldn’t wait for it. 


	5. a moment with brock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment with Brock, and a Pokeball.

The day Aizawa learned Fury Swipes, the group camped out overnight and was planning to reach the next town by morning. Once camp was set up, Brock set out a pot over the fire and started cooking soup. Aizawa had no clue how he kept all that equipment in his bag, but Brock seemed to be a good cook. Aizawa was glad Brock had joined their group. He was 15 (as old as the youngest of his students, and didn’t that feel strange) and the maturest of the group. 

While the human members of the group ate soup, the Pokemon were released from their Pokeballs (Onyx and Geodude from Brock, Pikachu and a newly-caught Taillow from Ash, and Torchic from May) and Brock put out dishes of what looked like dry pellets for them. Aizawa took a brief moment to marvel at the giant rock-snake before he glanced at the pellets and scrunched up his nose. 

Brock took notice of his reluctance. “Picky eater, huh? Trust me, it’s delicious and full of nutrients! I make it myself.” 

Aizawa grimaced, but his new body obviously had different nutritional requirements that he didn’t know about. He’d been eating berries up until now, but he wasn’t sure if that was what he was  _ supposed  _ to be eating or if Ash and May had been throwing the nearest edible thing at him. Details like ‘nutritional requirements’ sounded like something Brock would know, considering his goal was to be a Pokemon breeder. He heaved a sigh. It was logical. 

He ate a few of the pellets and they were surprisingly alright. Dry, sure, but they tasted just fine. The texture was annoying, but not intolerable. He finished his bowl and went to go lie down when Brock snatched him up from the ground. 

Aizawa screeched and thrashed, but Brock patiently held him by the scruff. “I like to take care of my friend’s Pokemon too, when we travel together. And since no one’s brushed your fur since you’ve joined Max… ” Aizawa grumbled but stopped struggling. 

Brock’s brushing was gentle, professional and rhythmic. Aizawa yawned (an adorable cat sound that made May squeal at the cuteness) and stretched. Then, he found himself making a rumbling sound. 

He stopped. What was that? He cautiously tried to do it again, and sure enough, he was rumbling again like a miniature car engine. “Look, it’s purring!” Max said, smiling.

_ Am I purring?... Yeah, I definitely am.  _

Aizawa considered not purring, but decided to purr anyway. Purring was good for your bones, or something like that  _ (also he liked how it felt-)  _ and when Brock was done, Aizawa jumped down on the ground, planning to go nap in the tent. “Oh, one more thing,” Brock said.  _ Oh, what now?  _

Brock pulled out one of the strange red-and-white capsules.  _ Pokeballs,  _ he’d learned they were called. Some kind of stasis devices used to capture Pokemon. Aizawa could help but feel a thrill of fear. If they wanted to, someone could trap him in a Pokeball and  _ never let him out.  _ He’d thought he wouldn’t have to worry about this, because he was hanging around with Max, who apparently wasn’t allowed to capture Pokemon, but… 

He flattened his ears and hissed at Brock, internally preparing to make a break for it. He’d planned to travel with this group, but if he was going to be trapped in a Pokeball, then that plan was untenable. 

“Woah, hey there,” Brock said.

“He looks mad!” Max added.

“You think he doesn’t like Pokeballs, like your Pikachu?” May questioned. 

“Maybe,” Ash said with a frown. 

“It’s okay,” Brock said soothingly. “I just want to capture you so no one else can.” 

Aizawa stopped hissing and tilted his head to indicate he was listening.

“Max isn’t old enough to capture Pokemon yet. But if I capture you, your capture will be listed under my account, so if you get lost, we can ask Officer Jenny to help find you. And if I capture you, no one else can catch you with their Pokeball.” 

Aizawa relaxed somewhat. That made more sense. He was still feeling a bit uneasy, though. About the Pokeball. What would it feel like? 

“It’s okay,” Brock said. “Once I catch you, I’ll let you right out. You can stay with Max.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Purrloin!” Max said. “I wouldn’t let Brock take you away. This is just so I can take care of you officially!” 

_ Okay. It’s true I don’t want to be caught by another trainer. But you’d better let me right out.  _ Aizawa touched the tip of his nose to the Pokeball.

* * *

His first thought was that it was dark. It was dark, but it was so warm and cozy, with a constant pressure and warmth on all sides. It was a little bit like being in his old sleeping bag, which he missed dearly. Aizawa gave a contented sigh, snuggling into the warmth. Time was a little fuzzy inside the Pokeball, but Aizawa could tell that not much time had passed when he saw light again. 

* * *

Aizawa stumbled as he exited the Pokeball. 

“There! That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Brock said. 

That had been… strange. Not necessarily bad, per say. The Pokeball was very comfortable and Aizawa could see why Pokemon chose to stay in their Pokeball rather than walk around in the cold rain. All the same, Aizawa felt a bit uneasy how within a few seconds of being in the Pokeball, he’d forgotten all about his deep conviction to escape, lost in pleasant feelings of  _ comfy  _ and  _ warm  _ and  _ safe.  _ Just because Pokeballs were comfortable didn’t mean they were necessarily good. Aizawa reminded himself he could still get stuck, and not to be complacent about Pokeballs. 

So avoid the Pokeballs. Luckily, this group of kids seemed to have a rather laissez-faire attitude about Pokemon in Pokeballs, considering Pikachu sat on Ash’s shoulder all the time. 

“I wonder why Purrloin hates Pokeballs,” May wondered absently. 

“Yeah, he almost hates them as much as Pikachu!” Ash added. 

“Pikachu!” Pikachu said in agreement. 

“Well, Purrloin are very rare in this region,” Brock said, tapping his chin. “It probably isn’t from here. And considering it’s so young, it’s not likely Purrloin managed to come to this region on its own. Maybe its previous trainer abandoned it?” 

The atmosphere in the conversation dropped several degrees. “How dare they?!” Ash shouted angrily. 

_ Wait that’s not…  _ Aizawa shook his head and waved his arms in an attempt to express to them that wasn’t what happened, but no one was paying attention to him. 

“What a horrible thing to do to a Pokemon!” May said, indignantly. 

“Well, now we’re taking care of it, so that’ll never happen again!” Max said. “I’d never abandon my Purrloin!” 

Aizawa sighed and facepalmed. No one was listening to him. 

… But, there was more information revealed in this conversation. Brock had said ‘Other regions.’ They’d travelled a significant distance and stayed within the Hoenn Region. For there to be at least two other regions, each with their own Pokemon, well… 

Aizawa was finding that the odds of this place being some forgotten corner of his world (lost  _ continent  _ by this point, estimating the size of the Hoenn region) were getting unlikelier and unlikelier. Where  _ was  _ he? 


	6. a misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crying children, hugs, and more confusion.

That night, Max seemed to look vaguely thoughtful and frowny about something. Aizawa tapped him with his paw. “Mrr?” 

“Oh. I’m okay. Don’t worry about me,” Max said. Aizawa wasn’t sure about it, but he let it go. Max kept acting that way until nightfall, where he stared at Aizawa for a long time. 

“Mrrr? Prrr?” Aizawa prompted.  _ Just tell me what’s going on, kid.  _

Max was silent for another long moment. “If you don’t want to battle you don’t have to!” Max blurted out. 

Aizawa tilted his head.  _ Don’t want to… where’s this coming from?  _

“I…” Max looked away. “Well, when Pikachu and Vigoroth were battling you got really upset… and you have all those scars so you must’ve been in some really bad battles…” 

Aizawa looked down at his paws. It was true. He still had the scar under his eye from the USJ, and the scar on his elbow. A few other scars on his back and arms from hero-work had followed him into this cat’s body, too. They were more visible then they had been on his human body because there was no fur growing where the scars were. 

“... and you’re from a different region so Brock and Ash thought you might have been abandoned by your trainer… And you’re really little! Brock says you’re basically a baby,” said Max, with a sniffle.  _ Oh, here come the tears,  _ Aizawa thought. 

“So you don’t have to fight with me if you don’t want to,” said Max, wiping tears from his eyes. “When you saw Vigoroth fighting, I said you wouldn’t have to battle if you were scared. But when you started being my Pokemon I got so excited that I forgot about it. But I don’t want to go back on my promise!” At this point, Max was bawling. “So you don’t have to battle with me if you don’t want to!” 

_ Aww, kid…  _ Aizawa walked towards Max and let Max hug him and cry into his fur. He started purring comfortingly, something that was easy enough to do now that he’d gotten control of this body’s vocal cords. If he ever became human again, the one thing he’d miss was being able to purr. Once Max looked up again, Aizawa made a punching motion in the air. 

“You  _ do _ want to battle?” Max asked, sniffling. 

Aizawa nodded. 

Max burst into tears again. “I’m so glad!” he sobbed, squeezing Aizawa tighter. “I love you so much!” 

It would be irritating to have to fight on command, but Aizawa knew that Pokemon got stronger and evolved the fastest when they battled, and Aizawa needed to get stronger. 

… Besides, this clearly mattered to Max. And he was Max’s only Pokemon, so if he refused to battle, Max would have no one to protect him. 

Aizawa stayed with Max until he cried himself to sleep. He washed off his fur in the nearby stream (Brock was going to have to brush him again), pulled Max’s blanket over him, and curled up beside Max. 

_ I guess I’m this kid’s pet now. It is what it is.  _

_ … I wonder what Nedzu would think of this world, where all animals have powers.  _

_ Wait, have I seen a single person with a quirk since I’ve gotten here?!  _


	7. first battle, new strategy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, we’re already out of chronological order. This takes place in the AG005 (the 5th episode of the series) and around chapter 5, after when Aizawa first started training his moves but before Aizawa mastered Fury Swipes.

They’d manage to find some random trainer in the woods who called himself “Nicolai the Knickerbocker” who dressed up like different Pokemon while he was trying to catch them. Aizawa couldn’t make this stuff up. 

He’d challenged May and Max to battle because they were wearing shorts and because the Petalburg Gym Leader was their father, believing that if they were the children of the Petalburg Gym Leader, they must be strong. 

Max had immediately offered up May to fight Nicolai, who promptly lost  _ very  _ badly against his Mudkip. Torchic had a type disadvantage, and May didn’t know what she was doing as it was her first battle. 

“Unreal! Who knew a gym leader’s daughter would be so bad? I’ll bet getting a badge at the Petalburg Gym will be a piece of cake!” 

“Take that back!” Max shouted angrily. “I’ll… I’ll battle you!” 

“Interesting!” Nicolai said. “We’ll see if you can do any better.” 

“Are you sure about this?” Ash said, uncertainly. “You’ve never fought with Purrloin before and this guy looks tough.” 

“I’m sure,” Max said, looking determined. 

_ So now I have to fight him. My first battle,  _ Aizawa thought. 

“Each trainer will use one Pokemon,” Brock said, acting as the judge. “The battle will be over when either one is unable to continue!” 

“Let’s go, Mudkip!” 

“Mudkip!” 

“Purrloin, I choose you!” 

Aizawa ran onto the battlefield. 

_ Okay, so what do I know? Mudkip is a Water Pokemon and looks like some kind of weird fish combined with a cat. I’m a Dark Type, not at a disadvantage, but my only attack move, Scratch, is only neutral against it… and it can use Water Gun, like it did against Torchic.  _

“Purrloin, don’t attack from the front! Attack from the side, use Sand Attack!” Max yelled. 

“Mudkip, use Water Gun!” 

Aizawa darted to the side, avoiding the water gun, and tossed a handful of sand in Mudkip’s eyes. “Kip!” the little creature said, trying to shake the sand out of its face. 

“Now, while it’s blinded, use Scratch!” Max called. Aizawa used Scratch, which sent Mudkip sprawling across the battlefield. 

“Mudkip, no!” Nicolai yelled. “Get back up!” 

Mudkip was scratched up, but it managed to get back to its feet. “Okay, now use Water Gun!” 

Aizawa knew exactly how to dodge the Water Gun, considering it was the only move Mudkip had used in both battles, and he threw himself to the side to get out of the way. Then, he ran forward, using Scratch one more time. The Mudkip collapsed after that. 

“Mudkip is unable to battle! Purrloin wins!” 

“Mudkip!” Nicolai ran up to check on his Mudkip. After a few seconds, Mudkip woke up again, looking mostly okay. “Oh, you did a good job Mudkip. Take a rest.” Nicolai brought Mudkip back into its Pokeball. 

“Max, that was amazing!” Ash shouted gleefully. 

“Oh yeah, I did it!” Max said, grinning. “Great job, Purrloin!” 

“That was very impressive,” Nicolai said. “Did you see what your Purrloin did at the end there? You didn’t even tell it to do Scratch. How did you train it that way?”

Max looked at Aizawa and frowned. “Oh, I, uh, I didn’t.” 

“That’s strange,” Nicolai said. “Why’d it do that?” 

_ Is it really that unusual for Pokemon to take initiative like that in battle? I mean, I know Torchic froze up when May didn’t tell it what to do in the last battle, but some of these Pokemon seem like they’re as smart as people,  _ Aizawa thought to himself. But everyone seemed to think it was quite unusual. 

“Most disobedient Pokemon refuse to listen to orders in battle at all,” Brock mused. “Purrloin seemed like it was too excited to wait for you to tell it what to do.” 

“Yeah,” Ash agreed. “It looked like it saw an opening and went for it.” 

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” May said thoughtfully. 

“Maybe my Purrloin’s just really good at strategy,” said Max, a bit defensively, as he picked Aizawa up from the ground. 

“It could be both good and bad,” Brock said. “If you want to battle that way, you have to make sure that you and Purrloin are both very in-sync, otherwise you and Purrloin might accidentally work against each other. But if it works, you could surprise your enemies, because you won’t call out all your attacks.” 

“Then that’s what we’ll do!” Max said, hugging Aizawa more tightly. “We’re gonna become really synchronized!” 

“Mrrr,” Aizawa said.  _ If literally all Pokemon attacks are called out in regular battles, me attacking independently could be an excellent surprise. Besides, while Max is okay at battle strategy, I’m 30 and I teach it for a living. It’s best I make some of the decisions in battle. _

Aizawa was satisfied at winning his first battle. He knew battles made Pokemon stronger and he wanted to get a bit more powerful, and maybe evolve. 

Nicolai and Max seemed to have a more amicable relationship now that Nicolai had admitted that Max was strong. The group went off with Nicolai to search for some Zigzagoons, because apparently Nicolai wanted to catch one.

(Aizawa was surprised when Team Rocket showed up later that day and tried to steal Mudkip. He hadn’t thought they’d survived being ‘blasted off’ by Pikachu’s thunderbolt last time, but he supposed they were just particularly resilient.)


	8. a little chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa opens an avenue of communication.

Aizawa sat on the ground, frustrated. “Mrrow. Mrrow. Purrr. Loi!” 

He’d be trying to speak, but it wasn’t going well. The only sounds he could make were combinations of “Mrrow”, “Nyaa” and “Purrloin.” Aizawa figured that was plenty of syllables if he could just string the sounds together, but he just  _ couldn’t.  _ What was so special about that Meowth that it could talk and he couldn’t? 

“Is Purrloin trying to tell us something?” May wondered aloud. 

_ Of course I am!  _ Aizawa said, but it came out as “Purr, Purrloin.” 

Pikachu bounded down from Ash’s shoulder. “Pika, pika, pika pi!” It said, but Aizawa implicitly understood the meaning:  _ You-can-talk?  _

_ Wait, you can talk too?  _ Aizawa said. Though his vocal cords actually produced the sounds “Mrrow nya purrloin” Pikachu seemed to understand his point. 

“Pikachu, chu! Pika pi!”  _ Of-course. Thought-you-could-not. When-I-talk-before, you-were-confused.  _

It seemed like Pokemon  _ could  _ talk to each other, even if they weren’t from the same species, and Aizawa was amazed. The Pokemon language was strange. Aizawa could understand what Pikachu was trying to say, but it wasn’t translated in actual words, but rather abstract ideas and meaning. 

_ I was confused,  _ Aizawa said to Pikachu, in a series of meows.  _ I was trying to talk like a human. I want to be able to talk to Max. _

Pikachu shook his head. “Pikachu pi.”  _ Talking-like-human, very-hard. Most-can’t.  _

_ Why can Meowth do it?  _ Aizawa asked him. 

_ Meowth-special. Rare,  _ Pikachu said. 

So that stopped most of his plans of speaking to the group directly, at least for now. How else could he… 

Aizawa almost slapped himself when he realized he forgot he could just write them a message. He grabbed a stick from the ground and wrote, “Hello.” It was a little difficult to maneuver with his small paws, but he could do it. 

May glanced at the message on the ground. “Hey, Purrloin wrote something!” 

Max pointed at it. “It says hello!” 

“Woah,” Ash said. “Can you write more things?” 

Aizawa scrawled out, “Sure I can.” 

Max gasped. “My Purrloin can write! That’s amazing!”

“That’s super rare, isn’t it?” May asked. 

“It is. Some Pokemon species can, like certain Psychic Types, but I’ve never heard of a Purrloin being able to write before,” Brock said. “I wonder who taught it.” 

“My Purrloin’s the best,” Max said, smugly. 

Aizawa rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, can you understand what we’re saying?” Max grinned.

“Yes, I can,” Aizawa wrote. 

“Look, he understands human speech good too!” Max said in wonder. 

“No wonder it was willing to do its own thing in battle,” said May. “It’s probably really smart!” 

Aizawa briefly wondered if he should tell them he was a transformed human, but he decided against it. It would probably just confuse them. (And eventually, when they were getting closer to a year’s end, he was going to have to tell them that he would maybe disappear…) 

But all that later. Right now, he should make demands. “If I tap twice when you’re holding me, it means I want to be put down,” Aizawa wrote in the sand. “Don’t put me in a Pokeball unless I’m badly injured and it’s necessary.” 

“Okay, that’s fine!” Max said gleefully. “I have the smartest Purrloin ever!” 

Suddenly, Aizawa felt himself get bowled over and snatched into the air by a net. He struggled, but felt himself being lifted into the air. 

“Prepare for trouble, with our hot air balloon!”

“Make it double, you’ve given us a boon!” 

_ Seriously? These people again?  _ Aizawa growled. 

“To protect the world from devastation!” 

“To unite all peoples within our nation!” 

Aizawa glanced up, and sure enough, he was trapped in a net hanging from Team Rocket’s air balloon. Once they were done saying their motto, Meowth sprung up, yelling, “If this Purrloin really is as smart as you say it is, the boss’ll surely give us a promotion if we capture it!” 

“That’s right!” James said. 

“Purrloin, get yourself out of there with Fury Swipes!” Ash yelled. Aizawa tried, but the Fury Swipes wouldn’t properly cut the net. 

“Ahaha! Our net is Fury Swipes-proof!” said Jessie. 

“Tested by our own lovely Meowth!” James added. 

“You ain’t getting out of there!” said Meowth. 

“No, Purrloin!” Max yelled. 

Aizawa glanced around, looking for an escape, but he couldn’t find anything. Everything within his reach wouldn’t tear when he clawed at it, and trying to struggle just got him more tangled in the net. 

“Go, Taillow!” Ash said, throwing his Pokeball. 

“Go, Cacnea! Use Pin Missile!” James yelled. 

A green cactus type thing appeared, sending a rain of little needles at Taillow, knocking it out of the air. “No, Taillow!” Ash shouted.  _ Since when did they get that Pokemon? James must have just caught it.  _

Aizawa was getting progressively more ticked off at Team Rocket. He had been  _ trying _ to have a conversation. He opened his mouth and started growling, only this growl was… deeper, somehow. And angrier, and darker. 

Aizawa snarled at them aggressively, and to his surprise, they all started freaking out.

Jessie shrieked. “I didn’t realize that such a little Purrloin could be so scary!” 

“It looks feral!” said James. 

As all four of them (Meowth and Wabuffet included) started running around in a panic, May’s Torchic managed to shoot down the balloon with ember and one of the members of Team Rocket managed to accidentally hit the ‘release’ button. He was immediately freed from the net and started falling quickly. “Taillow, catch him!” Ash yelled. 

Taillow, which hadn’t properly been knocked out by the Pin Missile, grabbed Aizawa in midair and gently dropped him off in Max’s arms.  _ Thank you,  _ Aizawa purred, and Taillow chirped in acknowledgement. 

“Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!” 

With that, Team Rocket was flying away again.

“Purrloin, that was amazing! You used Snarl!” Max said. 

_ I did?  _ Aizawa thought to himself.  _ They must have started panicking when they saw me use Snarl. _

_ … Good. Now I can properly scare people again.  _

“Thanks for saving my Purrloin, Torchic and Taillow,” Max said gratefully.

“Tor!” Torchic said proudly, while Taillow responded with a simple, “Taillow!” 

“I’ll never let anybody steal you,” Max said to Aizawa. “Those jerks!” 

“Mrrow,” Aizawa agreed. Very irritating. 

_ Hopefully we don’t run into Team Rocket again anytime soon, _ Aizawa thought. 

… But that was not meant to be.


	9. Berry Barter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa makes a trade, which pays off almost instantly.

Aizawa nosed the book towards Ash. “Mrrow.”  _ Don’t make me write out what I want, kid.  _

“I think it wants you to read that,” Brock pointed out helpfully. 

“But there’s nothing in the book it wants,” Ash complained, leafing through it. “It just wants me to read.” 

“Maybe it thinks you need practice,” May taunted, but Aizawa pointed at her and nodded. 

“Awww,” Ash moaned, looking put-out. “Why doesn’t he make Max read?”

“It’s because I’m already good at reading,” Max boasted. 

“But then why do  _ I  _ need to bother practicing?” Ash whined, for once looking every bit like a ten-year-old. “It’s not helping me become a Pokemon Master.” 

“The more you practice reading the better your vocabulary will be,” Brock said, reasonably. “And reading  _ could _ help you become a Pokemon Master. Look, that book Purrloin gave you is about better strategy in Pokemon battles.”

Ash’s attention snapped back to the book. “Really?”

“Yes-” 

Almost immediately, Ash actually started  _ looking  _ at the book and reading the words rather than just looking at the pictures. “Wait, this is actually really cool!” Ash sat on the ground near their campsite and mumbled to himself as he went through the introduction. 

Aizawa purred in satisfaction. Then, he pushed a book towards Max. 

“A guide about taking care of and gaining the trust of Pokemon!? Thanks, Purrloin!” 

To Brock, Aizawa gave a book about being a Pokemon Breeder and passed a book about being a Coordinator (May had been interested in “Pokemon Contests” recently) to May. 

“It looks like Purrloin wants us to practice our reading,” Brock said. “So it gave us these books!” It was true. These kids weren’t going to school. While Brock and Max were excellent readers for their ages, May and Ash were actually a bit behind. Not only that, but the kids didn’t seem to be getting much explicit instruction or mentorship for their goals (May barely knew what a Coordinator was. On the other hand, while Ash had a very intuitive grasp on Pokemon battling, he still forgot basic things like “type matchups” on a regular basis.) Both of them could use something to teach them. Aizawa figured he could solve two problems in one by giving them some ‘assigned reading’ that would actually be helpful and relevant to them. 

“Hey Purrloin,” May asked, frowning. “Where did you get these books?”

Aizawa had bought them. He gathered Pecha and Sitrus berries in the woods near the last town and sold them to a few locals in a complicated game of charades. Then, he went into the bookstore and pointed at what books he wanted and thrust the money at the store-owner. He’d understood, assuming Aizawa was a Pokemon acting on its trainer’s orders. (And either way, money was money.) 

It wasn’t difficult to gather the berries. While during the day his vision was slightly impaired (and he was red-green colorblind now,) his newfound night vision made up for it in a big way. In addition, his senses of smell and hearing were much keener. With a sharper nose and better night vision, it had been easy to sneak away from the group at night to gather some berries. 

(Maybe when they got to Rustboro City, Aizawa could use his berry-trading talents to buy a new blanket or whatever else the kids needed? Brock was very responsible about shopping, but Ash would spend all his money on Pokemon toys if he were allowed to.) 

Aizawa sighed, this would be kind of complicated to explain. Writing really was a pain (he’d noticed that writing out actual sentences gave him a headache, to say nothing about the difficulty with it when using paws) so Aizawa just wrote ‘traded’ in the dirt. 

“Traded what?” Brock asked. 

Aizawa flashed a few coins he had leftover in change. 

“Purrloin, did you take those from someone else without asking?” Brock said, in a voice that was both firm and gentle, as if he were scolding an errant child. 

Aizawa shook his head, but apparently he looked guilty. 

“Purrloin, stealing is not allowed!” Max said. 

“Yeah, you can’t steal stuff!” Ash added. 

Brock was muttering to himself about how it was ‘surprising it hadn’t stolen anything until now’ while May was trying to explain to Aizawa why stealing was bad, as if he hadn’t arrested literal robbers in his time as a hero. “Purrloin, people’s things are not for taking,” May lectured. “Imagine how you would feel sad if someone took your things without asking!”

“Purr!” Aizawa protested, pointing to the word ‘traded’ still on the ground.

“You traded for money?” Ash questioned. 

“Purr,” Aizawa affirmed, nodding. 

“What did you trade?” Brock asked, and Aizawa wrote ‘berries’ on the ground. 

Brock hummed. “That does make sense--Purrloin are known for a good sense of smell and their scavenging. Bet they were pretty easy for you to find, huh?” 

“Prrr!” Aizawa said, nodding. 

Assured that Aizawa had not committed theft, Max put Aizawa on his shoulders and started reading him facts from his new book as May, Ash, and Brock set up tents. Aizawa yawned, listening absently to Max explain the common behaviors of Surskit. Geez. If trying to get the kids to read was this tough, making them learn math or history would be a nightmare. 

* * *

Aizawa’s decision to get Ash a book on competitive battling paid off a few days later, when Ash fought against an unofficial gym advertising the world’s strongest Pokemon. It was a Pelipper (a waterbird Pokemon that to Aizawa looked much like a pelican) that apparently could learn moves like ‘Vine Whip’, ‘Thunder’, and ‘Flamethrower.’ If Aizawa hadn’t gotten those books, May would have dismissed Max’s concerns about the Pelipper ‘cheating’ (Pelipper can’t use Vine Whip or Thunder) as Max’s book knowledge not matching up with the real world. Ash would have just been impressed by the Pelipper’s flashiness. 

But instead… 

“Hey, what’s your deal?!” Ash demanded after his Taillow fainted after a Flamethrower. 

“My Pelipper can use a variety of moves!” Anthony said, smirking. 

“No, not that! That Flameflower shouldn’t have been so strong!” 

“Well, Pelipper is the world’s strongest Pokemon.”

Ash huffed. “No, no. Flamethrower shouldn’t have been that strong compared to its  _ other  _ moves, the Flying and Water-Type ones, because of…” Ash screwed up his face, thinking hard. “Same… Type… Effectiveness Bonus?”

“STEB?” Max said dryly.

“No! Same Type Attack Bonus! STAB!” Ash shouted, pointing. “Unless your Pelipper is a Fire-Type, it’s Flamethrower should have been weaker in comparison to its water and flying-type moves! Because Water-Type moves do more damage when a Water-Type does them! My book said so!” 

Aizawa had literally no idea what he was talking about, but Anthony started looking very uncomfortable, which everybody noticed. 

“Pelipper can’t learn Vine Whip and Flamethrower!” Max shouted. 

“This is very strange,” Brock said. 

After a little more pressure from the group, Anthony admitted he’d been cheating. He’d placed pokeballs inside the Pelipper’s mouth, so he could ask for a ‘Flamethrower’ and a little fire Pokemon would come out of its Pokeball and spit flames from the Pelipper’s mouth, creating the illusion of a proper Flamethrower. 

After a talk with Ash and Brock, Anthony agreed to use Pelipper more fairly in battle, because his Pelipper  _ was  _ a strong Pokemon. For Team Rocket (who’d been planning to steal the ‘world’s strongest Pokemon’) they were just disappointed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pelipper and Anthony are from "You said a mouthful", episode AG010!   
> Also, Same-Type Attack Bonus, or STAB, is a real mechanic in the games! If a fire-type uses a fire-type move, the damage will be multiplied by x1.5. I didn't know this for so long but I instinctively gravitated towards STAB moves because I'd played the games a lot, and when I finally learned about it, it suddenly made so much sense why the fire moves just seemed to be 'better' on my fire-type starters.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. on the way to Rustboro

“I think maybe you could learn…” Max was peering at his book, examining moves Purrloin could learn. “... Assurance, Slash, Thief…”

“Mrrr?” Aizawa tilted his head. 

“Oh, yeah, I’ll explain. Assurance is a Dark-Type move, it’s a type of tackle but it does tons of extra damage if someone hits you first,” Max said, looking at Aizawa to gauge his reaction. “Slash is just a ‘Slash’, but it’s considered a lot stronger than Scratch or Fury Swipes, though.” 

Aizawa considered it. While he would love an upgrade to Fury Swipes (usually he only ended up hitting his target twice and it felt unreliable) he  _ also  _ wanted to try to learn some more difficult Dark-Type moves. 

“Then there’s Thief. It’s another Dark-Type move, it does the same amount of damage as Assurance, but instead of hitting them back harder if you take damage, you’ll actually steal their item!” Max said. 

_ That  _ sounded interesting, almost particularly attuned to this animal. 

He was almost tempted to choose Assurance, but the fact that it required something hitting him first to inflict maximum power put him off. This new cat form was quick but seemed to have relatively low defense. The best defense would be not getting hit at all. All three all seemed useful, though… 

“Purrr,” Aizawa said, and Max could tell he was feeling indecisive. 

“Well, Brock said Thief would be most natural for a Purrloin to learn. Maybe we could try to start with those and go back to Slash and Assurance later?” 

Aizawa nodded in assent. They spent the afternoon practicing. 

* * *

That night, he stretched and yawned as Brock ran the brush through his fur. 

One of Aizawa’s secret favorite parts of the day was when Brock brushed his fur. When he was back in his universe, he’d let Hizashi brush his hair sometimes, so it was… nostalgic. And it felt nice. It had become part of their nightly routine and Aizawa half-thought it was so he would go to sleep rather than sneak out at night and hunt for berries or look for shiny things. 

It worked to some extent. As determined as he was to explore this new world, it made him feel so relaxed that sometimes he fell asleep early. That seemed like the case for tonight. His muscles felt like putty. He yawned again. Slowly, his eyes grew heavier. 

* * *

Brock noticed as Purrloin started to get sleepier and sleepier. He’d figured Purrloin would fall asleep pretty easily tonight, given how it and Max had been working hard on learning a new move (‘Thief’) that afternoon. Purrloin was still a long way from actually learning it, but their determination was adorable. 

“Hey Brock,” May whispered. “It’s cute you brush Purrloin’s fur every night, but why do you do that? You usually don’t with the other Pokemon.” 

“Purrloin was probably separated from its parents,” Brock whispered back, carefully not to awaken the half-asleep kitten. “It doesn’t groom like normal Purrloin, so I assume it never learned.”

“Oh, it doesn’t lick its fur?” May asked quietly. 

“No, it doesn’t. Once I told it that it should try, and it looked grumpy about it for hours after.” 

May muffled a giggle. 

“Besides,” Brock continued, thoughtfully. “Affection is also very important for young Pokemon, just like for human babies. It could be very necessary for Purrloin’s development, depending on its age.”

“It’s that important?” May asked, tilting her head. 

“Really,” Brock confirmed. “If you look, if Purrloin goes out to explore at night and doesn’t have any friendly contact during the day, it starts looking stressed and anxious. Maybe it’s lonely? It needs time to bond with others.”

Ash had been listening to the last part. Too loudly, he said, “That’s-”

“Shhhhh!” Both Brock and May shushed Ash, who shrugged sheepishly.

Brock glanced down at Purrloin, who was asleep. Brock took Purrloin and walked over to Max’s tent. Max was already asleep, so he gently placed Purrloin next to Max. Purrloin shifted slightly in its sleep and started purring. 

“Awww,” Brock said, smiling. 

* * *

Aizawa blinked awake.  _ Must have fallen asleep,  _ he thought. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. According to his calculations, they should be reaching Rustboro City either today or tomorrow. Home to the Rock-Type Gym and the headquarters of the Devon Corporation. Honestly, Aizawa was pretty sure Ash was going to lose hard against the Rock-Type Gym. He wasn’t sure how the battle was going to be formatted, but as far as type advantages went, Ash was at major disadvantage. Both Taillow and Pikachu were weak to Rock-Types, while Treecko (a grass type) didn’t even have any Grass-Type moves. 

… on the other hand, Ash always seemed good at pulling victories out of nowhere. He would just have to see. Pikachu had been practicing Iron Tail, which was supposed to be good against Rock-Types. Pikachu  _ was  _ fast, so if he managed to hit them first… 

Well, he’d just have to see. If Ash lost, all he’d have to do is try again. Meanwhile, Max seemed excited about the Devon Corporation, which was supposed to be a large, rather advanced corporation that made technology. Aizawa was sort of interested in it, but in passing, so he would be able to check what sort of technology this dimension had available. 

Aizawa decided that while Rustboro City’s gym battle might go badly or Team Rocket might show up, at least nothing much could go wrong with Devon Co. That was something. 


	11. the return pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa returns from the Pokemon Universe. 
> 
> [wow yeah this is getting really out-of-order...]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning to post this later but I figured that since I'd been inspired to write it and this technically isn't chronological, y'all might appreciate if I just posted it. This is the Return Part 1! The Return Part 2 will be next, but then I'll probably go back and write scenarios before and after his Pokemon-Universe experience as I'm inspired to. 
> 
> Aizawa's current moveset: Shadow Ball, Night Slash, Play Rough, Fake Tears  
> Aizawa was most recently a *Liepard*, because he evolved from Purrloin. (You should consider googling both. They're both really cute.)

With a whirl, Aizawa found himself tossed out into the street. “Urghgh…” he mumbled, trying to stand. He blinked. His eyes felt  _ unbearably  _ dry and everything was a bit… blurry. It’d been so long since he’d had to deal with dry eyes. 

Aizawa used Fake Tears, and immediately his eyes welled up with tears. He wiped them away, sighing in relief as his eyes stopped burning, and looked around. 

It was Musutafu. 

He gasped. He looked down and saw, not paws, but  _ hands.  _ He brought one of his hands up to touch his face. No fur. He tried to stumble to a standing position, but it took him a few tries to get the hang of it. He slumped against a building after he stood. His balance was still off after spending so much time as Liepard, a quadruped. 

“So I really am back,” Aizawa murmured. “The villain wasn’t lying after all. I was gone for one year, but I came back.” 

At least he’d gotten a chance to say goodbye to Max and Ash… 

He shoved his feelings aside. Now wasn’t the time for that, he had to focus. 

It didn’t escape his notice that his vision was still like that of a Liepard. Sharper during the night, red-green colorblind. But he didn’t have any fur. He glanced down at his hands again, and saw a distinct lack of claws.  _ No obvious physical changes apart from the vision… _

Concerned about potential changes to his eyes, Aizawa activated his quirk. He felt his hair lift off his shoulders and sighed in relief. He’d have to check to see if he could still erase people’s quirks, but it seemed like he could still use Erasure. 

Aizawa sniffed and winced at the overpowering scent of the city. Besides being used to the fresh woodland scents, it was obvious his enhanced sense of smell had stuck with him across dimensional lines. 

Aizawa rifled through his pockets. A phone. He glanced at the date.  _ XX21… that’s the exact same year I left. And April 8th? I vanished on the 7th of April, right? I definitely vanished on a Monday…  _

He glanced at the date. Tuesday. Had it only been one day?

The sun was rising over the horizon. No, probably less than a day. He went to the Pokemon world on the night of April 7th. It had probably only been hours. 

Despite his year away, Aizawa still knew how to navigate Musutafu. He staggered back to his apartment, still trying to get used to walking on two legs again. It was early enough that very few people were out to see him struggle with walking. He managed to take the stairs and flopped down on the couch, sighing. Dimensional travel had come with a feeling of vertigo and off-ness. He wasn’t feeling the best. 

Okay so…  _ What do I do now?  _ He couldn’t actually remember what he was supposed to be doing today. He’d expelled his whole class this year but surely he was supposed to have been doing  _ something.  _ He rarely gave himself days off. Had he signed up to work overtime at his agency? Was he supposed to help another teacher with their classes? Had Nedzu gotten him involved in one of his ridiculous and convoluted plans? Was there a staff meeting? 

For the life of him, he couldn’t remember. 

Okay. First things first, check for differences within himself. Then figure out the daily schedule. ‘Affected by quirk’ was a legitimate reason to call in to either of his jobs and say he couldn’t come. He got up and shakily stumbled to his mirror and stared at his own face.

No obvious differences, except that his dark-gray irises were slightly enlarged, and his pupils looked slightly more slitted. Not so obvious that someone would notice at first glance, but still there. He stripped and quickly examined his body for obvious differences. No tail, regular human ears. Nothing really, except… 

On his back, neck, and shoulders, there was a thin layer of fur. He glanced at it in the mirror. Like Liepard, the fur was blue with yellow spots. Well, probably. He’d been told in the Pokemon universe that Liepards were purple, so maybe his fur was purple too? He had trouble telling the difference between blue and purple shades after the vision changes. 

Okay, so. No obvious physical differences except slight changes in his eyes and the fur on his back and neck. It would be almost completely hidden under his capture weapon, but would be noticeable if he wore a normal, non-high collared shirt. Unless he shaved it, of course. 

… but in the end, so long as he explained it to his colleagues, it would be a non-issue. Someone having fur in this day and age was hardly unusual. 

He got his shirt and clothes back on and glanced at the time. 6 AM. He had an hour or two to figure out where he was going if he was working at UA today, because school started at a little after 8:30. First, he quickly went through the records of last night’s police activity to see if they mentioned him. Surprisingly, one report actually mentioned arresting the man who attacked him, who had escaped and evaded police in the middle of a 10-year ‘aggravated assault with use of a quirk’ sentence. The police seemed to have an awareness of what his quirk was on some level (they mentioned ‘a quirk causing either extreme delusions or perhaps involving a pocket dimension’) but the police seemed to be erring on the side of ‘delusions’. After all, even though the existence of alternate universes had essentially been proven at this point with recent scientific advances, a quirk that allowed for travel between universes or pocket dimensions seemed unlikely. 

All the same, the report briefly mentioned that the department was “thankful it hadn’t been used on anyone during his escape.” 

Well. That officer had spoken too soon. He would have to contact the police department about it. 

His phone dinged. He fumbled to grab hold of it. 

_ “So excited we both get to help Thirteen with the 2-B rescue classes today! :DDDD.”  _

A classic text from Hizashi. Aizawa’s heart warmed a little. He missed him so much. Suddenly, contacting the police about his encounter with this man became a lot less important, and seeing Hizashi become a lot more important. And Hizashi’s text had shed some light on today’s schedule. So, he was supposed to be coming in for school today, to help teach. So: shower, change, go teach, report to police. Easy as cake. He was excited to see everyone again.

* * *

It wasn’t  _ that  _ easy. For one, him staggering around was much less well-received in the morning crowd heading to work by train. Most took one glance and scoffed, assuming he was drunk or hungover. But, he got on the train. 

As Aizawa ran his fingers through his hair, he was astounded to realize it was soft and not scraggly like it normally was. He was confused for a moment, until his mind flashed back to how Brock brushed his fur all the time and washed it with Pokemon-safe products and soaps. Was this what hair care did for people? Aizawa kept running his fingers through his hair, amazed at the feeling. 

Aizawa also didn’t appreciate how many smells there were on the train, especially whoever was wearing that obnoxious lavender perfume. Didn’t they realize there were people with quirks that gave them an enhanced sense of smell?  _ (Did that include him, now-) _

Aizawa got off at his stop and luckily, it was a short walk to UA. 

He arrived at UA gates and walked into the school. He glanced about at hallways and classrooms that he’d been gone from for so long. Then, down the hallway, he saw… Midnight. As she came down the hall, he leaned against the wall for balance, trying to look casual. She was wearing her hero costume. She looked well, like her normal self. 

“Nemuri,” he said, shoving down the irrational urge to hug her. “I missed you.”

Nemuri laughed, a beautiful sound. “You sap, we saw each other yesterday.”

Aizawa huffed. “Yeah, whatever.” 

“Aw, don’t be embarrassed! It’s cute!” Nemuri said in a sing-song voice. 

Despite how he’d normally be a little annoyed at her antics, this time he had to suppress a smile. He bid her goodbye and once she’d turned a corner and couldn’t see him anymore, he wobbled the rest of the way to the teachers lounge. He stood in the doorway. Only Nedzu and Vlad King were there. 

“Ah, Aizawa! Anything you need to speak with me about?” Nedzu asked, smiling pleasantly. 

“Huh?”

“You technically don’t have to be here until noon. You came early. You’re not usually one to awaken early when you don’t have to! Besides, you appear…” Nedzu looked him up and down, as if trying to pin down what was wrong with the picture. “... strange. Why are you leaning so heavily against the doorframe?” 

Aizawa wasn’t really sure how to describe what had happened over the past year, but at this point he probably  _ should  _ explain… 

There was a long silence.  _ I should probably start with what’s easiest to understand,  _ Aizawa thought. 

“I was hit by a quirk,” Aizawa said, swaying as he walked unsteadily into the teacher’s lounge. “It was - well, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an hallucination. It was a very vivid experience. The police report said it might have been real.” 

… And now they both looked  _ concerned. _ Ugh. Mentioning hallucinations while staggering about was a bad method to take. He was sure the Pokemon world had been real, all he had to do was convince them it was... so what was he supposed to say now?

Actually… showing off a few moves like Shadow Ball would definitely prove he travelled universes. Wait, had he used Fake Tears when he first entered this universe? Could he really still use moves, or had he just imagined that while he was disoriented? He should check. 

So, Aizawa activated Fake Tears, and sure enough, his eyes filled with tears. Several of them rolled down his face. So he  _ could  _ use moves, or at least Fake Tears. Was it just because of the changes to his eyes or-

“Are you… crying?” Vlad King looked horrified. Nedzu’s face lost its pleasant smile. “We should get you to Recovery Girl,” Nedzu said, dead serious. He stood up from his chair. 

“I’m fine,” Aizawa said. He wiped the tears from his eyes. “I’m definitely fine.”

“You can’t walk straight,” Vlad King said. 

“I just need more practice walking,” Aizawa insisted. “I’ll get used to it.” 

… Aizawa was aware that he wasn’t making any sense, but he was sure that telling them to their faces he thought he’d travelled to another dimension would just make them think he was drugged even more. 

“Let’s go see Recovery Girl now,” Nedzu said gently, tugging insistently on his pant leg.

“Fine,” Aizawa said. He walked alongside Nedzu. Vlad King brought up the rear and any time Aizawa started to trip or sway, Vlad King would steady him. Aizawa was sort of starting to hit a stride. Though his gait was still off, walking was getting easier. 

During the walk, Aizawa decided he should probably just let Nedzu look up the quirk for himself. “Tanaka Koichi. He was the one to use his quirk on me. You can look up the effects.” He would probably see the ‘might cause delusions’ part but at least Aizawa wouldn’t have to explain everything, which sounded like a pain. 

Nedzu’s eyes gleamed. “Useful information. Thank you.”

When Recovery Girl saw Nedzu and Vlad King dragging in Aizawa, she gave a long-suffering sigh, probably assuming he’d gotten himself stabbed again or something like that. But she quickly grew serious, her eyes sharpening as Nedzu and Vlad King listed off symptoms. 

“Problems with balance, hallucinations…” Nedzu started.

“I specifically said it  _ wasn’t  _ an hallucination,” Aizawa protested. 

Nedzu sighed. “... emotional imbalance…” 

“I’m perfectly emotionally balanced,” Aizawa said. 

“He started crying,” Vlad King added. “I’ve never seen him cry. We’ve worked together for six years.”

“... as well as disorientation,” Nedzu finished. 

Aizawa felt a growing sense of happy nostalgia as he watched the three of them uselessly fuss over him. It had been a long time since he’d seen them… his eyes started tearing up again, this time no Fake Tears involved, and Aizawa was quick to blink them away. 

Recovery Girl shooed the other two away so she could have a ‘proper examination.’

“Do you know what’s causing your symptoms?” she asked.

“I just got hit with a quirk. Non-lethal quirk. It’ll be fine.” 

“Hit with a quirk, huh?” she said, shining a light in Aizawa’s eyes. He winced. “Your pupils look a little unusual, dearie,” she said. “Did you hit your head?” 

“No,” he answered.

“Any mind-altering substances? Drugs, alcohol?”

“No.” 

“Alright. Do you know anything about the quirk?”

“Not officially, I can only guess based on the effects.” Aizawa was still mincing his words, not wanting the ‘different universe’ part to come off badly. Should he just tell her? 

“Would you mind taking that off?” Recovery Girl said, gesturing to his capture weapon. “I want to examine your neck in case -” 

“No thanks,” Aizawa said. If she examined his neck she would see the  _ fur,  _ and that would open another bag of worms. Dammit. This was going to take forever. He was really happy to see Recovery Girl again and he definitely wanted to have a long conversation to catch up, but before he got caught up in all this  _ explaining  _ business, he really just wanted to see Hizashi. Maybe say hi to Thirteen and Snipe on the way… 

“No?” Recovery Girl tilted her head. Aizawa had never before refused to take off his capture weapon for an exam. 

“No, I don’t want to. I’m going to go see Hizashi. I miss him,” Aizawa said, fond feelings making him honest. Really, today involved  _ far _ too many feelings. 

Recovery Girl called out in protest as Aizawa neatly flipped himself into a nearby vent. Belatedly, he was proud he hadn’t crashed doing that. He was adjusting to his body again pretty fast. 

The ventilation systems had been built to be completely incomprehensible to an outsider, but a legitimate method of escape for those who knew which ways to go. Most of the other teachers couldn’t navigate the vents (they were never taught either because they wouldn’t fit in the vents, or because they wouldn’t remember the maze-like structure very well) but there were a fair number of alumni who were aware of how they worked. Nedzu built them, of course. 

A few tunnels later and he was at Hizashi’s classroom. Right now, Hizashi would have been teaching his class English if he hadn’t expelled his class, but as it was, the classroom was empty and Hizashi was grading papers. He leapt down from the vent and landed (a little poorly) next to Hizashi’s desk. 

“Hizashi,” he said, a lump forming in his throat. 

“Shouta, how you- oof!” Hizashi stumbled back as Aizawa gave him a hug-tackle. 

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Aizawa said, resting his head on Hizashi’s chest. “I’m just glad to see you.” 

And he was. He was so, so happy to see him and his stupid orange triangle sunglasses and his ridiculous hair. If he could still purr as a human, he would be doing that right now. 

“Fine, huh?” Hizashi asked awkwardly.

… Hizashi was acting _weird._

Aizawa sniffed the air and sure enough, he smelled a sweet scent. Somnambulist. He glanced towards the door, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nemuri, a tear in her sleeve and releasing gas. 

A trap. Of course. While he’d been navigating the vents, Recovery Girl probably told Nedzu he was looking for Hizashi. They’d probably set Hizashi in plain view, with Midnight to knock him out and another teacher or two in the hallway behind her to back her up. 

Not much gas had been released so far. He caught it early. If he wanted, he could erase her quirk and try to escape again or fight his way through her, but there really wasn’t a point. He smiled to himself. “A trap. Classic. Should have expected,” he said, leaning into Hizashi as he breathed in the gas. His vision started to darken, and within the minute, he was asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Future topics you'd like to see besides the aftermath of this?  
> \- the Pokemon movies (Jirachi, Deoxys, Mystery of Mew)  
> \- Aizawa's evolution to Liepard  
> \- Aizawa first meets Team Magma (Devon Corp.)
> 
> ... anything else you can think of?


	12. the return pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa returns from the Pokemon world, and tries to explain it to everyone else.

Aizawa woke up slowly, watching the light filter through the curtains of the medical wing. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. 

“Good to see you awake, Aizawa-kun!” Nedzu chirped. 

“Hello,” he said, glancing around. “So I really am back, huh?” 

Nedzu’s smile slipped a bit. “Yes, I read his quirk. Some form of dimensional warping. Either that or extremely vivid hallucinations that seem to last months, despite only taking several hours in reality.”

Aizawa stretched and sat up. “Yep, that’s the one I got hit by.”

“Well, as the quirk effects have worn off, you have a clean bill of health!” Nedzu said, with a faux-smile that indicated he wasn’t really that happy. “Why don’t we go to the teacher’s lounge and get you something to drink?” 

“That would be appreciated,” Aizawa said.

The walk there was quiet. When Aizawa glanced into the teacher’s lounge, the first thing he noticed was the fact that the overhead lights were off and the back lights were on instead, making the room a little darker. It was warmer temperature-wise than usual, with the yellow-colored back lights giving the room a homier feel. Pleasant-smelling candles burnt in the background. 

… Lots of little changes, Aizawa noticed. Nedzu usually used these types of subtle tricks to put students at ease or soothe distraught parents. 

Aizawa felt a flash of irritation that Nedzu thought he needed it, but put those feelings aside. It was probably Nedzu’s way of showing that he cared.  _ And Nedzu thinks I started crying and then ditched a doctor’s appointment to go see Hizashi. Because of that he’s probably concerned about my mental health, especially since he knows I’ve been gone for a year who-knows-where. _

As Aizawa sat down, Nemuri and Hizashi rushed into the teacher’s lounge together. 

“We heard what happened-”

“Are you okay?” Hizashi finished. 

Nedzu slid Aizawa a cup of tea (chamomile, another miniature attempt from Nedzu to keep him calm) and gave them both a warning glance, as if to say,  _ don’t overwhelm him.  _

“I’m fine,” Aizawa said, sipping his tea. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll tell you about where I went? The world I either hallucinated or traveled to.” 

Both Hizashi and Nemuri took their seats. Hizashi scooted his chair close to him, and Aizawa took the opportunity to lean on his shoulder. 

Aizawa smelled several foreign presences near the door. He glanced up to see Vlad King and Toshinori hovering awkwardly by the door, seemingly unsure whether or not they were welcome. “Hello,” Aizawa said flatly, gesturing to the table. The two took the hint and sat down in their own chairs. 

“Did you hear about what happened too?” Aizawa asked. 

The two teachers nodded and made noises in affirmation. 

“Good, I don’t have to explain. The world I went to, or potentially hallucinated… hm, how should I describe this… none of the humans had quirks, but basically all the animals did.” 

Nedzu’s eyes gleamed. “Oh?”

“Not really ‘quirks’ in the traditional sense. More like each animal species had their own unique powers. For instance, there was this creature called a ‘Charmander.’ It was a little lizard but it could breath actual fire. One of the kids I met had a ‘Pikachu’ which is a cat-sized mouse that can shoot lightning,” Aizawa explained. 

“Shoot lightning?” Nemuri asked, eyes wide. “What was it like?

“It was interesting,” Aizawa said. “Their culture was different because of the whole animals-with-powers thing. By the way, these creatures were called ‘Pokemon.’ It was a pretty friendly world, though. Very colorful and most people and Pokemon were nice.”  
“How intelligent were these Pokemon creatures?” Nedzu asked.

“Hm. It varies a lot by species. Some aren’t intelligent at all, others are as smart as humans, and some were smarter than that. Especially Psychic types, those were especially intelligent. Most Pokemon can’t learn to speak languages like Japanese or English, but that’s more of a vocal cord issue than anything else.” 

While Nedzu looked contemplative, Yagi piped up asking, “How were they treated?” 

“Generally well,” Aizawa said. “Though they were sometimes thought of as pets, it’s much closer to a partnership than it would be here.” 

“That’s kinda cute,” Nemuri said. “Did you make friends with any Pokemon?”

“Well,” Aizawa said. “I was transported into the world  _ as  _ a Pokemon, so there’s that.”

“Wait,” Hizashi interrupted. “So you got turned into one of these quirked animals?”

“Yes,” Aizawa confirmed. “I was a Liepard. A purple leopard who can manipulate dark energy. That’s why I was having such a hard time walking before. I was trying to adjust back to having two legs. Liepard is a quadruped.” 

Hizashi gaped. 

“I actually started out as a Purrloin, which are about the size of domestic house cats. After I fought and gained enough battle experience, I evolved into a Liepard. By the way, some Pokemon can ‘evolve’ or change their form to get more powerful once they win enough fights. Which is what I did,” Aizawa explained. 

“Wait, so you were able to manipulate dark energy? Really?” Vlad King said. 

“Well, there were certain limits, but yeah, I could,” Aizawa said, remembering all his dark-type moves. 

“Can you still do that now?” Nedzu asked. 

“I mean, I could try,” Aizawa said, shrugging. 

Aizawa turned towards the wall. “Night Slash,” he intoned, before whipping his arm in a general slashing motion. 

Despite his successful use of Fake Tears earlier, he’d thought that was probably because his eyes changed. He didn’t  _ really  _ think anything would happen. 

A giant slash of dark energy emerged from his arm, sliced into the teacher’s lounge’s couch and left a large gash in the wall. Aizawa turned back towards the group. “I’m sorry… I didn’t expect that to work.” 

“I think that answers our question about whether or not it was all a hallucination,” said Vlad King, eyes wide. 

There was a long pause as everyone processed that statement.

“This occurrence has significant scientific implications about the fabric of our reality,” Nedzu said, tapping his chin. 

Another long pause.

“What else can you do?” Hizashi asked. 

Aizawa got up, took a whiteboard marker from the desk, and started writing on the board.

_ Liepard - Ability: Limber _

_ Moves: Night Slash, Shadow Ball, Play Rough, Fake Tears _

“Each Pokemon has one special ability that they’re born with and are capable of learning attacks called ‘Moves.’ Pokemon can only know four moves at a time, regardless of intelligence. If they learn a new one they have to forget an old one. These are the ones I knew.” 

Nemuri snorted. “What kind of moves are the last two? Play Rough? Fake Tears?”

Aizawa huffed. “Play Rough is an improvised tackle, but it’s special because it does extra damage against dragons. Which by the way, exist in that world.” 

“Dragons?!”

“Wait, are you making that part up?”

“No,” Aizawa cut in. “Fake Tears is what it sounds like. The ability to cry on command. That’s why I was crying earlier, I wanted to see if I could still use that technique.” 

“You were  _ crying  _ earlier?” Yagi said worriedly.

“I just explained it was fake crying,” Aizawa said, a bit miffed.

Vlad King sighed in relief. “Phew. When I saw you crying, I thought the world was ending or something!”

“Yo what about Limber?” Hizashi pointed to his ability. 

“When I’m electrocuted, my muscles don’t contract and seize up, which means I can still move and that I can’t be paralyzed,” Aizawa said. “I don’t want to test to see if I still have it.”

“You don’t have to,” Nedzu assured. 

“My last two moves are Night Slash and Shadow Ball,” Aizawa said. “That,” he pointed to the giant gash in the wall, “was Night Slash. Shadow Ball is rather self-explanatory, it’s a ball of shadow energy that I can throw at people.” 

Vlad King seemed to be deep in thought. “You said Pokemon were treated like pets,” he murmured. “How good was everyone to you?” 

The tension in the room suddenly grew much greater. 

“I joined up with this group of travelling children,” Aizawa explained. “They realized quickly that I was smarter than the average Purrloin and were always very considerate. People outside their group sometimes treated me… differently, than that, but the kids were always kind.” 

Vlad King, Nemuri, and Yagi looked relieved, Hizashi looked thoughtful, and Nedzu frowned. Nedzu clearly noticed that the not-so-subtle  _ ‘people outside their group sometimes treated me differently’ _ meant  _ ‘sometimes people outside their group treated me badly.’  _

“Who were these kids you were with?” Hizashi asked. “How many of them were there?”

“Four. Ash, May, Brock, and Max,” Aizawa listed. “Ash is ten, he has that electric mouse called Pikachu. May, she has this human-sized fire chicken called Blaziken. Brock is fifteen, he has this gigantic snake made out of rocks? I think it was called Onyx. Lastly there’s Max, seven-years-old. He and I were partners.” 

While Nemuri muttered, “human-sized fire chicken?” under her breath in disbelief, Hizashi grinned, saying, “You teamed up with a seven-year-old?” 

Aizawa ducked his head in his capture weapon to hide a slight blush. “It was logical! He didn’t have any other Pokemon to protect him.”

“So your experience wasn’t bad or anything?” Yagi asked. 

Aizawa shook his head. “It was good, for the most part. It was very intriguing. There were bad moments, like the worst of the organized crime stuff, that time the Tree of Life almost died, and the great battle between the alien Deoxys and the sky serpent Rayquaza…” 

“... what?” 

“... but those all turned out in the end. All in all, I think I enjoyed being in the Pokemon world, though I missed being home.” 

“That’s such a relief,” Nemuri said. “When we heard you could have had  _ any  _ hallucination or- well, gone to any world- we were worried you were sent somewhere horrifying.” 

“On the bright side, you got to keep all your moves,” Vlad King pointed out. “That makes you definitively more powerful.”

“I actually still have a sharper sense of smell from being a Liepard,” Aizawa said. “I still have night vision as well, but I’m colorblind now. Can I test to see if I still have Erasure?”

One test with Hizashi later confirmed that Erasure was still in existence.

“This is great!” Hizashi cheered. “In some other universe you might have died a horrible death, but in this one it’s like you’ve got five more quirks now!” 

“If All for One notices he’s going to be pissed,” Yagi muttered to himself. 

“Huh?” 

“Nothing!” Yagi said. 

And that was the first of many discussions had on the Pokemon world. 


End file.
